Skinner the structure of Chinese history 施坚雅 中国历史的结构.pdfVIP

The Journal of Asian Studies /JAS Additional services for The Journal of Asian Studies: Email alerts: Click here Subscriptions: Click here Commercial reprints: Click here Terms of use : Click here Presidential Address: The Structure of Chinese History G. William Skinner The Journal of Asian Studies / Volume 44 / Issue 02 / February 1985, pp 271 - 292 DOI: 10.2307/2055923, Published online: 23 March 2011 Link to this article: /abstract_S0021911800132206 How to cite this article: G. William Skinner (1985). Presidential Address: The Structure of Chinese History. The Journal of Asian Studies, 44, pp 271-292 doi:10.2307/2055923 Request Permissions : Click here Downloaded from /JAS, IP address: 94 on 05 Jan 2015 VOL. XLIV, NO . 2 JOURNAL OF ASIAN STUDIES FEBRUARY 1985 Presidential Address: The Structure of Chinese History G . WILLIA M SKINNE R ne of the most dramatic cycles of economic development and decline in all of OAsian history occurred in North China between the eighth and the thirteenth centuries. It was marked by the growth of an ever more complex regional economy centered on the city of Kaifeng—a development that got under way in the wake of the An Lushan rebellion of 755 , accelerated only gradually during the remainder of the Tang period, spurted ahead throughout the tenth century and most of the eleventh, and leveled off in the decades around 1100 . The key elements in this saga of regional development deserve brief summary. Kaifeng grew in importance as Tang power ebbed . Most of this growth was at the expense of Luoyang, the Tang second capital, which lay to the west on a more strategic and defensible site . Both Luoyang and Kaifeng had access to the Grand Canal,